'The Happiness Project' Review

I recently read the book ‘The Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin. It was definitely an impulse buy- I had never heard of it and there was only one copy in store, so I thought the universe was giving me a sign.

The book is non fiction, and somewhat of a ‘self-help’ book, although it reads like a fictional novel.

In a nutshell, the book is about the author and her journey to improve her overall happiness in the space of a year. Each chapter is one month, and in each month, she targets four or five things that she wants to change in her life. For example, managing her temper better, improving her relationship with her family, and activities like, ‘declutter’, ‘write a book’ and ‘sing in the mornings’.

I liked this book because she integrates ideas from other texts, so you know she’s done her research and is not just winging it.

She also has several frameworks that allow her to keep track of habits she wants to break, and start. One of these is her list of ‘Ten Commandments’ which encourages her to keep on track and act as motivation. The first of these is ‘Be Gretchen’, which forces her to think about what she likes, not what she ‘should’ like. Similarly, her list of ‘secrets of adulthood’ provides somewhat of a foundation on which to build her project.

I liked this book because I’ve never read a book like it. It encouraged me to think about what makes me happy and what doesn’t, and how to change my behaviour based on this simple ideal. I feel like at uni we tend to be fairly all over the place in terms of emotional stability and not knowing who we are and what we ‘should’ do. For instance, feeling obligated to go out on a Friday night, or, similarly, stay in because we ‘should be studying’.

‘The Happiness Project’ helped to clear my mind and think about the present and find a balance between uni work and activities that make me happy.

I'm not going to say 'you should read it' but I think that everyone would get something out of it.